Developing Resilience as a Key to Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is the value we put on ourselves. It has to do with our sense of mastery, identity, and how well we like ourselves. It matters. It is a key to a happy and fulfilled life.

I want to suggest that there are two parts to building self-esteem—mastery (doing) and resilience (thinking).

By mastery I mean learning, beginning at a young age, various life skills (from math to soccer) and accomplishing meaningful goals (getting an A on a test, making the baseball team). I feel good about my...